The exterior North Portal protects the eastward tunnel opening. The south opening has a concrete abutment.(Image from Wikipedia) / Wikipedia

The United States’ airspace defense military is planning to move its communications equipment back to its iconic nuclear Cold War-era bunker which was abandoned nearly a decade ago, the head of the agency announced.

The Cheyenne Mountain
bunker in Colorado Springs, which was the filming location for
the popular Stargate SG-1 science fiction TV series, was first
built in 1965 to resist a Soviet nuclear attack. It was a key
center for United States Space Command and North American
Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which scanned Canadian and US
airspace via a worldwide system of missiles.

The site was abandoned in 2006 due to heavy costs, and since then
the complex has been merely on "warm standby," meaning it is only
staffed when required.

Now NORAD and US Space Command have decided to move back to the
Cold War-era bunker. Admiral William Gortney, chief of NORAD and
Northern Command, said it was necessary to safeguard sensitive
sensors and servers from a potential electromagnetic pulse (EMP)
attack.

“Because of the very nature of the way that Cheyenne
Mountain's built, it’s EMP hardened. [It] wasn't really designed
to be that way, but the way it was constructed makes it that
way,” Gortney said at a Department of Defense press
briefing.

According to the navy admiral, “there's a lot of movement to
put capability into Cheyenne Mountain and to be able to
communicate in there.”

“We have the space for it, we have the cube. My primary
concern was are we going to have the space inside the mountain
for everybody who wants to move in there, and I'm not at liberty
to discuss who's moving in there, but we do have that capability
to be there.”

Answering the question how soon the airspace military is planning
to relocate to the nuclear bunker, he said that the process has
already begun.

“It happened long before I got there; the people are moving
in there. And so it was, you know decisions from my predecessor
and I support those decisions. And we'll make sure that it all
gets in there and it's all secure.”

The Cheyenne Mountain Complex has the capability to send warnings
that could trigger the launch of nuclear missiles.

In March, the US Department of Defense announced a $700 million
contract with Raytheon Technical Services Company, a major
defense contractor and industrial corporation, to work on the
North American Aerospace Defense Command Cheyenne Mountain
Complex.

“We look forward to working closely with the Air Force in
this important area of national security," said David
Wajsgras, president of Raytheon Intelligence, Information and
Services.